ERC Fellow helps PA Wilds Center update Resource Guide format and listings

The 2026 PA Wilds Resource Guide is now available for businesses and organizations looking for grants, loans, technical assistance, marketing support, or other support services to grow their operations in the Pennsylvania Wilds.

PA Wilds Resource Guides have been available for more than 15 years, with updates made annually to reflect new resources, updated contact information, and more. PA Wilds Center, the lead nonprofit coordinating the PA Wilds Conservation Landscape effort in the designated region, has managed the Resource Guides as a tool to help create meaningful connections for local businesses and organizations, connecting the dots on the broad ecosystem of services available to entrepreneurs at varying stages of their business journeys, as well as local nonprofits who offer various programming critical to establishing a place-based tourism destination.

The 2026 PA Wilds Resource Guide has a new look and offers new functionality for users.

Over the past 30 months, PA Wilds Center’s Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) Fellow was tasked with updating and improving the tool, transforming how individuals, businesses and communities can find valuable resources such as grants, loans, technical assistance and other support programs.

Marc Wilken, the ERC Fellow who was matched with the Pennsylvania Wilds region to support the Advancing Rural PA’s Outdoor Recreation Section project in early 2024, tackled the project. Hailing from the Philadelphia area, Marc was excited to deploy his program development background to support vibrant communities through the outdoors. As a nature enthusiast and environmental advocate, he hopes to see the natural assets of the PA Wilds region help build more resilient ecosystems that can flourish and position the people and places across the PA Wilds to thrive. Learn more about the ERC fellowship program and Marc here.

As a capstone to his fellowship with PA Wilds Center, Wilken supported PA Wilds Center in updating the PA Wilds Resource Guide. He curated a filterable resource guide that connects entrepreneurs and nonprofits to grants, financing, and technical assistance.

Previously, these resource guides were formatted as word documents, with an individual guide for each of the region’s 13 counties, as well as a guide for the full region. These PA Wilds Resource Guides highlighted resources relevant to PA Wilds businesses and nonprofits, but presented that information as brief overviews with links directing users elsewhere for details. While a solid foundation, the guide placed the burden of further research on the user to determine if the resources were truly a fit for their own needs.

“Our team realized that the format of the previous Resource Guides may be overwhelming for an entrepreneur or community leader navigating them, and we wanted to devise a tool that had more interactive functionality beyond a simple search and find,” explained LaKeshia Knarr, PA Wilds Center’s Community Programs & Marketing Director. “We knew we wanted to start by migrating the content to a filterable spreadsheet format, but Marc helped think through additional ways to create value in this new format – such as adding new filterability options based on tools he has seen in other areas, like the option to filter based on what stage a business is at in their journey. Now a new entrepreneur could search for resources for start-up phase businesses to dive deeper into specific resources for exactly where they’re at in their development.”

To close that gap, Wilken took a new format concept initiated by PA Wilds Center and rebuilt the resource guide to organize the most important information upfront, introducing interactive filters and expanded resource details so that entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits can quickly assess whether a resource is right for them, such as loans, grants, tax credits, and technical assistance providers.

“Before the update, entrepreneurs and small business owners had to click through multiple pages, parse program details, and determine eligibility on their own,” said Wilken. “For busy business owners already stretched thin, that kind of time commitment can be discouraging and lead them away from resources that might otherwise be helpful.”

Drawing on research into local, regional, statewide, and national programs, the new guide now includes more than 500 resources. There are separate tabs that outline resources for for-profit entities and nonprofit organizations. The guide is also accompanied by instructional manuals (Google Vids and Scribe) to demonstrate how to navigate the resource guide, including search strategies and practical tips for locating relevant resources.

“The goal was to build a tool in partnership with the stakeholders that would benefit from the guide,” said Wilken. “We sat down with PA Wilds entrepreneurs and nonprofits, tested a prototype together, and really listened to what wasn’t working for them. Then we took that feedback back to further refine the guide. I’m proud of where this version landed, but it’s still evolving. Down the road, I’d love to see it live on a platform that’s even more streamlined and easy to search.”

The newly updated PA Wilds Resource Guide directory is available at the PA Wilds Center website, under the “Services for Businesses” tab and at the PA Wilds Cooperative website on the “Member Benefits” page.